Cosmic Balance
by Sunnymuffins
Summary: Two strange girls, the Zombie Apocalypse. How much more interesting can it get. *I don't know if there will be sex in this yet, but there will be a lot of adult content, so it's rated M. -
1. Chapter 1

**_Okay, so I haven't finished my other TWD story. But this one was haunting me all night while I was trying to sleep. Which is why it has an annoying amount of detail. I had to get it right or I knew it would bug me while I slept tonight. I really hope you all like it. Also, I will be continuing my other TWD story 'Things From Your Past'. I just had to get this out before it imploded in my brain. =-)_  
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**Chapter 1**

The beat up truck followed the jeep into the 'parking area' of the camp. The cop in it had said his name was Shane, he had stopped the two men in the truck from going into the city. Apparently it was infested with those things. Shane had told them about his camp, and invited them back, safety in numbers being his main selling point. Not to mention they were next to the water, boil it and you pretty much had unlimited drinking water. The older man hadn't been very interested in the idea of going to camp out with a cop and a bunch of other people, but the younger one convinced him it was necessary for the time being. They had grudgingly introduced themselves as Merle and Daryl Dixon.

As they climbed out of the truck, Daryl took in his surroundings. There was an RV set up off to one side, across from where a housing complex made out of tents was set up. They had fire pits, and weren't too far away from the water, people were bustling around the camp, doing laundry and keeping themselves busy. Everyone noticed the new comers, but they all kept to themselves when they realized they were with the cop. Daryl looked up on top of the camper and saw an older man sitting in a chair with a pair of binoculars around his neck. Sitting on the roof of the camper next to him was a girl, but she couldn't of been on watch, she was sitting Indian style, back straight, eyes closed, and-much to Daryl's surprise-had a small, dark crossbow sitting on her lap.

Shane was explaining the workings of the camp, Merle not even pretending to listen, while Daryl was only half listening. He could tell there were more people inside the RV, some down near the water, but no one too close to the woods that surrounded them. He noticed a few kids running around camp, probably playing tag or something stupid.

"Some of the ladies are setting up for supper, probably done in an hour or so." Shane said, hoping the appeal of food would make one of them start talking, it didn't.

"Shane, we're running real low on meat," a tall, brown haired woman said, wiping her hands off on her shirt.

That's when Daryl finally piped up, "I can hunt." he stated, not really sure why, but feeling like he needed to establish his place in this group.

Shane smiled at him before replying, "you guys don't worry none about that stuff right now. You just get settled in. We've got this taken care of." For a second, Daryl was slightly impressed, assuming they had a hunting party or something. Shane walked over and banged on the side of the RV.

"Lyla! We're running outa meat, needya ta make a trip." He hollered up to the top of the RV.

The girl that was sitting up there didn't say a word, just grabbed her crossbow and climbed off of the RV. Everyone went back to what they were doing, and Merle had wandered off to set up a tent or something, so Daryl followed after her. There wasn't anyway that she was going to be able to catch anything, at least she didn't look like it.

She was maybe 5'3", probably 130 soaking wet. She had curves though, an hour-glass figure or something. Her hair was somewhere between red and brown, and up in a high ponytail, with light tendrils falling down the sides of her forehead. She was wearing a dark green, camo tank top, that showed some of those weird Asian fish peaking out the sides of her tank top. Her shorts were dark jeans, cut off right above the knee, and she was wearing hiking boots with white socks peaking out of the top of them. The girl had a necklace on, but instead of a chain it was held there with a black leather sting. Other than that the only jewelry she had on was in her ears. From the top of the curve of her ears down to the lobe was filled with little studs.

He was trying hard to remember what the cop had called her, hoping maybe if he called out her name instead of "hey girly", that she wouldn't swing her crossbow at him. She seemed to be holding it right. He stopped for a second trying to kick his brain into gear. _'It started with an L, Lisa? No, no, Lilly? No, there was definitely an a in there somewhere. Wait...wait...Ly...la? Lyla! That was it!" _he thought to himself. By the time he figured it out and looked up to call out to her she was gone. "Fuck," he mumbled as he started trying to track her down.

It was surprisingly hard to track her. She was so quiet it was almost creepy. Suddenly he heard a whiz sound followed by a thump. He headed after the noise, wondering if she'd got herself a squirrel or something. But when he came up on Lyla she was pulling her arrow out of a medium sized bucks eye.

Lyla looked up at him, before wiping the arrow off on a rag she had in her back pocket and sticking it back in the quiver hanging on her belt. He started to say something but stopped when he watched her heft the buck up onto her shoulders and head back to camp, her crossbow bouncing on her hip with every other step.

Daryl followed her back to camp and watched her dump her kill on the tailgate of a big ass black Chevy truck. She pulled a knife out of a sheath that must of been under her tank top, Crocodile Dundee style, and started gutting the thing. He just stood and stared for awhile before his attention was turned to another girl hoping out of the RV.

"I see your admiring Lyla's handiwork." The girl who spoke was probably about the same height as Lyla, but skinnier. Her hair was dyed black, as evident by the blonde trying to break free at her roots, and had pink and purple highlights running through it. It was also up in a high pony-tail. She was wearing much shorter and darker cut off jean shorts with a black tank top. The shoes she wore looked like black converse ones, but they came up to under her knees. She had black straps on her wrists, like bracelets, her ears were pierced like Lyla's, too, but her face was pierced. Both eyebrows, nose, and a hoop going over her bottom lip, -which had dark purple lip stick on them.

He noticed the necklace next. It was the exact same one Lyla had, a little disk with a bunch of, what he guessed, where Celtic symbols all over it. Her strap was white though.

The girl laughed a little before extending her hand. "Names Tina, I'm guessing you've already had the pleasure of meeting Lyla over there."

Daryl shook her hand, feeling a little awkward. "Daryl. She ain't said a word, can she talk?" he asked.

Tina laughed again. "Hell yeah she can talk, half the time I can't get her ass to shut up."

"I think your confusing Lyla for yourself again, Tina." The old guy on top of the RV chimed in with a laugh. She turned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"You know you love me, Dale!" she said with a smile. Tina looked back at Daryl and laughed again. "Okay, so I got caught. I'm a motor mouth, she keeps pretty quiet though. Unless she's talking to me, or needs to say something to make someone else shut the fuck up." Tina was smiling over in Lyla's direction, who was ignoring the conversation and she cut apart the buck for dinner.

"I'm surprised you haven't launched into your 'cosmic' crap yet, Tina." said a blonde girl who was coming out of the RV. "She's usually blabbering about that stuff the second someone new is in her sights."

Daryl looked confused for a second. Tina looked amused. "Thanks for reminding me Aimes!" she chimed before turning back to Daryl and launching herself into the next conversation. "Me and Lyla are cosmically joined." She stopped and laughed at the look on Daryl's face. "Not sexually, silly. We've been best friends our whole lives. She's never been a big talker, but I always have. Anyway! I noticed you noticing our necklaces while hoping I didn't notice you noticing them." Tina rambled on with a slight giggle. "They have the exact opposite design, two sides of the same coin. And her strap is black, mine is white. I'm like the yin to her yang." By this point Daryl was pretty much lost, so he just nodded and walked away. "Aw, you guys are no fun." she sulked, walking over to Lyla.

He went over to were his and Merle's tent was supposed to be set up, it wasn't, which meant Merle was probably off getting high. He started setting it up, every now and then glancing over at the girls. Daryl could tell Lyla knew how to talk, he could see her talking back to Tina. They were definitely two very weird individuals. From this angle he could see that Tina had what looked like flowers and vine tattoos coming out of shirt, in almost the exact same way that Lyla's fish peaked out of hers.

Lyla whistled sharply, getting Shane's attention. She made a nodding motion at the buck, then her and Tina grabbed the carcass and disappeared into the woods, Tina gabbing all the way. The others had gone to the back of the truck and started gathering the meat to go cook it.

It was nearly done when they got back, Daryl had been sitting in a camping chair next to his tent, poking at his small fire. Lyla headed straight for the water, it wasn't completely dark yet, but he was surprised that she didn't seem to need any light to know exactly where to step. Tina went to the big Chevy and pulled some clothes and bag out of the passenger area, before heading over to him.

"Hey, me and Ly are heading down to take a bath. I figured you'd figure it out on your own, but just so you know, that guy you came with is passed out a few yards into the woods there. You might want to get him before he becomes somethings dinner." She smiled and then skipped to catch up with Lyla.

"Dammit," Daryl mumbled as he went after his brother and dragged his ass back to camp, before dumping him off in the tent. Someone had brought two plates of food over while he was gone. He ate quickly, then went and put his plate in the pile with the others. Merle's was in the tent with him, so if he decided to wake up and eat, it was waiting on him. Daryl stopped and looked down at the quarry, the girls were in what looked like bikinis. Washing their hair and bodies. When they got out a couple minutes later, one held up a towel while the other changed behind it, then they switched off.

When they came back up to eat he could see how they're styles really did differ. Tina was in short cloth shorts, and had a gray tank top on, and those stupid shoes again. Lyla was wearing her hiking boots again, a white tank top, and a pair of black sweat pants that were cut off at the knee, just like her jeans.

As they started eating, everyone started to throw in thanks to Lyla, almost as if they were trying to draw her into a conversation. It didn't work, all she did was nod her head give them all a tight smile. Daryl really couldn't help it, he was fascinated by both of them. One seemed almost useless and bordered on annoying. The other was eerily quiet all the time, but from the looks of it, pretty damn useful. They were both pretty girls, dark blue eyes on Tina, and bright green ones for Lyla. Tina's was definitely a face most men would break their necks to look at, nearly perfect, if it weren't for all her piercings. Lyla's was much more likely to be over looked. Judging from the bit of personality he had gleaned from her, that was the way she wanted. Much more continent to be in the background than center stage, like her friend.

They were with out a doubt, the strangest girl's Daryl had ever met in his entire life.


	2. Author's Note

Authors Note

I probably won't be updating for awhile. Unfortunately I just got out a week long stay at the hospital. I had Pancreatitis, and had to have my gall bladder removed. I'm still in a lot of pain and I'm dealing with trying to get a three year old to understand that Mommy is hurt and can't pick him up.

It breaks my heart to tell him no when he throws his arms up and asks me to pick him up.

Hopefully I will be back to my old self soon, and as soon as I feel well enough I swear I will start coming up with ideas for the next updates. I hope you all don't forget about me while I'm on my little 'sabbatical'.

I would love to be able to push through the pain and distracting thoughts and get updates out for you guys, but I'm not that strong of a person.

Thank you all for your love of this story. It warms my heart to know that I don't suck at writing as much as I think I do =-p.

Luckily, there are tons of awesome stories on this site. If you were to go look at my favorites I'm sure you'd find something that you like. We have a great database of awesome authors who are churning out stories so epic that it makes your head spin.

I'll be back when I can.

Lots of love and admiration;

Sarai

a.k.a

Sunnymuffins


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

*Tina's POV*

I had never really envied Lyla before. I mean, I was obviously the pretty one and I was way more outgoing. But now none of that seemed to matter. I couldn't hunt, not to mention quiet and stealthy were barely in my vocab. I had always loved Lyla like a sister, we grew up together, knew each others deep dark secrets. And she was really the only person I could tell anything to. I had always thought her dad was a dick for the way he raised her, but maybe he was some kind of psychic or something. Now I was the useless one. And let me tell ya, I really didn't like the feeling.

Now every man was going to be looking at her like she was some kind of super model, not because she was or anything, but because she could pull her own weight. It's not like I was pampered or anything, I just never had an interest in learning how to cook or do laundry or, for fucks sake, hunt. My goal was to become a model, and I wouldn't need to know any of that stuff to do that job well. When we first got her and started setting up camp I was totally enjoying the gawking looks I was getting. I mean, I'm not conceited or anything, but I'm hot, and I know it. But every day that went by, they started to realize that I was just a pretty face, and Lyla was the useful one.

It's not like I was mad at her or anything, she totally hated the attention she was getting. That's why our friendship had worked so great for all those years, I wanted to be center stage, and she wanted to be behind the scenes. Now that was shifting, and she didn't know what to do. People would come up and start talking to her about something and she'd just stand there and fidget all nervous like. I started rescuing her from the awkward silences after she nearly decided to spend the rest of the end of the world in a tree. It was a half selfish act, I got the attention that she didn't want, and she got to slink away.

Lori had decided to start trying to teach me how to cook and do laundry. The laundry thing wasn't so hard, kinda like washing your hair, scrub, rinse and repeat. The cooking sucked balls though, I couldn't figure anything out! It was like being shoved into a lake when you didn't know how to swim. I kept getting popped with the yucky grease, made me feel like I was always slimy. Not having a hot shower didn't really help either. I was getting more and more frustrated ever single day. And it's not like there were any available, hot guys wandering around. Shane was obviously shacking up with Lori, and everyone else was either way too old, or just really not my type.

Then Shane brought back that yummy Daryl guy. I mean, rednecks really weren't my thing, but damn that boy was hot! And it was just my luck that he was almost as unreadable as Lyla herself. His brother obviously had the hots for anything with tits, a pussy, and a pulse at this point. But I thought of him as a last resort. It's not that he was ugly, he was just vulgar. All around vulgar, from the way he talked to the way he smelled. I really wanted in on some Daryl action though. All that sexy rolled up into one man, mouth watering.

I'd sit and talk his ear off all day, making sure to wear my lowest cut tops. But he'd just kind of sit there and keep doing whatever it was he was doing. I really hoped he wasn't gay, I mean what man can resist my perfect boobs? One that was batting for the other team, duh! I hoped I was wrong, maybe he was just more socially awkward than Lyla.

Today I was trying, again, to get his attention. I was supposed to go down and do laundry with the girls, so I made sure to put on some short, tight shorts and my bikini top. I smiled down at him as I walked up to him, hoping to distract him from the crossbow sitting in his lap.

"Hey Daryl!" he responded with that stupid grunt that always made me wanna hit him, but I kept my cool. "I'm going down to do laundry with the girls, but I really don't want to get a sun burn. Do you think you could put some on my back?" I asked, as innocently as possible. And, of course, he looked at me like I'd sprouted another head.

He looked down at his hands and mumbled something about how they were too dirty. Before I could say anything else, Glenn popped up. "I'll do it!" he said eagerly, causing me to sigh.

"Fine, but if you even think about copping a feel, I'll have Lyla kill you in your sleep." he looked at me and actually gulped, I could see it!

"Boys," I mumbled, rolling my eyes and walking over to Glenn.

*End Tina's POV*

*Lyla's POV*

It was getting harder and harder to avoid these people. What was their problem? Why were they always up my ass? I brought them food so they'd leave me alone. But that seems to have backfired, now they all think I really give a flying fuck about them. The only people I could stand being around were the kids, Tina, and Daryl. At least he kept his mouth shut, we could sit on watch together in complete silence for hours, and it never felt weird. Must of been a kindred spirit or something. And as for the kids, I always liked kids, they were so honest and innocent. Sophia was by far my favorite.

I knew she was damaged, watching your father beat your mother would do that to anyone. The way I saw it was that her mother asked for it. She's the one that married that prick and staid with him. So I kept out of it, but if I ever found out he was hurting Sophia, that would be a different story. She never asked to be born into a fucked up family. My least favorite kid was Carl. That boy was obnoxious. And his mother wasn't much better either. It was like she thought she was running the damn camp just because she was fucking the so-called leader.

I didn't understand what was wrong with these women. The world ended, and they wanted to sit around and play little Susie homemaker. Except for Andrea, she was always bitching about doing 'women's work'. As far as I was concerned, if you couldn't even shoot a gun right, you had no business doing anything but being another bitch to protect.

My dad raised me like the son he always wanted. I didn't have any gender issues. I knew I was a woman, and I wasn't a virgin. But maybe the way I was raised gave me a little bit of insight into both genders. The men were pompous, the women were stupid. That's the way it had always been, everyone dying off didn't seem to change that much.

I was glad I still had Tina, she'd come over and save me from the dumb asses trying to chat me up. I hated it, my whole life I had been background, and I was perfectly fine with it. But now it was like I was lil' Miss. Popular or some shit. It wasn't sitting well with me. I knew just what my dad would of said, _"There ain't shit left, Ly. Course they gonna be crowden ya. That's what happens when folks panic." _That thought made me sad. I missed my dad. If he had been here with me, it would of been so much easier. He'd tell all these fuckers to steer clear of his prodigy. He never called her his daughter, he never wanted one. So when her mama died trying to bring that son into the world, then he didn't even make it past a week, my dad was all I had left. I was about three, and my dad sat me down and said he don't know how to raise no girl, so I wasn't gonna get raised like one.

He taught me to hunt, fix cars, fish, spit, all that shit that a man is supposed to know how to do, according to him. It never mattered much to me, he was proud of me, and that's what counted.

Today was like any other day, I was cleaning my latest kill when I realized I was being watched. It was Carl, that obnoxious little prat. I gave him my 'what the fuck you want?' look and he started chattering away. Some stupid shit about wanting to know how to do things I could do. I never wished for a roll of duct tape more than right then and there. Why wasn't he asking his new daddy to be teaching him this shit? Why was he over here bugging me?

I heard some heavy foot steps coming up behind us, hoping like hell it was Shane coming to drag this kid away. I heard a thwack followed by a little yelp, whipped around just in time to see Ed, that fat tub a lard, lowering his hand. Yeah, I didn't like Carl, would of hogged tied him and plopped him in his tent if I thought it would of done any good, but you don't hit a kid. Ed was hissing something about leaving the 'pretty lil' lady alone to make my dinner' when he got cut off. Mainly cuz my hunting knife was at his fat fucking throat. His less than mainly yelp got everyone's attention fast. And now came the part I hated.

"You best back the fuck off unless you want me to skin you next." I hated talking, everyone always stared at me funny when I had to say something.

Shane and Lori were running up, neither of them having a clue what just happened.

"Lyla, put the knife down, don't do nothin stupid." Shane was saying, acting like he was some damn hostage negotiator. I looked past him, to Lori, who was staring at her son cowering behind me.

"You need to keep a closer eye on your boy. Keep him away from this dick-less moron." I used my free hand to guide Carl out from behind me and in the direction of his mother. Then I stepped up closer to Ed, my blade cutting a bit at his neck. I got right in his ugly face. "If I ever see you lay a hand on one of these kids again, especially that lil' girl of yours, you had best learn to live without sleep, cuz I'll gut you when you least expect it." I snarled at him. I'm pretty sure he pissed himself, I could smell that someone did.

I turned back to my truck and continued my work, knowing everyone was staring at me while Ed stumbled off. Luckily, Tina was sauntering back into camp with Glenn and Amy. They broke the tension that everyone's eyes on my back was causing. And just like that, camp life went back to normal, and all but three sets of eyes were glued to me. I glanced around quick like, two of those sets of eyes belonged to Carl and his mom. She was staring at me with some confusion, Carl like I was some kind of superhero.

The last pair of eyes were in Daryl's head. I couldn't read his face, or the look he was giving me. But for a second, I thought maybe it could of been admiration.

*End Lyla's POV*

_**This story makes me kind of sad. I was hoping it would do well, but it's gotten like 98 hits and no reviews =-(. Maybe I'll just stop this one, dunno yet.**_


	4. Chapter 3

**_Another short chapter, it's getting kind of hectic, trying to work on 3 stories at once. Before anyone says anything, I changed things a bit. Glenn, T-dog, Morales, Jacqui, and Andrea went to Atlanta, without Merle. I've got two stories where he got left on the roof-top, and I didn't really like it. I also bumped up the Ed getting his face pounded in, because there is really no reason (except maybe the guns hmmm) of a group going back to Atlanta after they get back. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't really like the story line much when they went back to Atlanta to find Merle. _  
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**_Anyway! Please read and review, give me some feedback please!  
_**

**Chapter 3**

After Lyla's run in with Ed he kicked Sophia out of their tent. Told her he didn't want her around any more, and she could go stay with the cunt in the big tent. Without a word, Lyla had moved Sophia into her three room tent. She cried for the first few nights, but when she realized she wouldn't have to be terrified of her father anymore, so warmed up to the idea of staying with her hero.

As for Lyla, well, nothing really changed for her. She was still protecting Sophia and hunting. Daryl had started going out more, she sometimes wondered if he was doing it to lessen her load, or to show her up. Either way, it didn't really matter much to her, as long as the girl was safe.

* * *

*Lyla's POV*

I was sitting against my truck, teaching Sophia how to skin a rabbit I had ganked, when a commotion down by the water broke out. Apparently that worthless heap had hit his wife, and Shane had gone off on him. When they dragged him back up to camp I couldn't suppress a little smirk at how his face looked like someone had taken a tenderizer to it. Unfortunately, Sophia had too much of her mother in her, ran off to help that sick, twisted fuck.

My father may have raised me wrong, according to some people. But at least he taught me morals and values, things Ed was definitely lacking.

Tina was fussing over Merle, who was passed out next to his tent, again. She had paused in her attentions long enough to shoot me a wide grin at Ed's expense. I shook my head and chuckled a little bit, that girl was a strange one. The world had gone to shit, and here she was, fawning over a drugged up mess old enough to be her father.

I was lost in my thoughts as I cleaned and skinned my kill, wondering why her attentions had so quickly turned from the younger Dixon to the older, when he plopped down next to me.

"Guess ya got what ya wanted." Daryl mumbled, chewing on his thumb.

I looked up at him and shrugged, "he ain't dead." I mumbled back. I didn't know why, I hated talking, but when I was around Daryl it just sort of came out. Like all the years of not opening my mouth meant nothing. I was raised to speak when spoken, too. '_Don't say nothing, less you mean it' _was what my father had always said.

It had set with me for so long, that it just felt weird to open my mouth and let the words out. But that weird feeling was never really there when Daryl was talking to me. I wasn't stupid, I knew I found him attractive, which in itself was strange for me. But he was more than that, strong, of both mind and body. It was obvious he didn't share his brother's views on races and women.

He was just weird, like me. Maybe that's what drew me to him, at the end of the world, it's strange to find someone you can connect to so easily.

*End Lyla POV*

* * *

*Tina POV*

It kinda sucked to watch him with her. I could admit it, I was jealous. Of what, I'm not quite that sure. It could of been that he paid more attention to Lyla than her, or it could of been that Lyla actually talked to him. Since we were kids, I was the only one that she ever really talked to, and now I had to share that strange relationship with someone else.

I should of figured it would happen eventually, I mean, we were both twenty-six. She was gonna find someone who could put up with her weirdness at some point.

Once I figured out that Daryl probably wasn't going to change his mind about me and her any time soon, I moved on...ish. I mean, yeah, his brother was a lot older than me, but he had a good stash. Plus, he was dangerous, which had always been a turn on for me. The sucky part was that he was always high, and always passing out. I hadn't gotten laid in so long, it was starting to really frustrate me.

I was still trying to make sure that Merle was actually going to wake up after this 'power-nap', as I had deemed them, when I heard something I thought I'd never hear in my life time again. Lyla...laughing.

Caught me off guard, she chuckled every now and then, but it was more of a 'you're a dumb-fuck' kind of chuckle. Not this. This was her real, beautiful laugh. I'd always told her she had a beautiful voice and laugh, but it never changed her opinion. Now there she was, laughing that gorgeous laugh at something Daryl had said.

Yeah, I was jealous of him.

Which really made me think about why I'd be jealous of a guy when it came to my best friend. Maybe...I don't know, maybe we were more than friends. At least to me.

* * *

_**Thank you to Equal-Opportunity-Reader for reviewing. It's the only one I've gotten on this story, and it's awesome! =-)**_


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